THE BEAST

During an appearance on a recent episode of   "The Jasta Show" , hosted by   HATEBREED   frontman   Jamey Jasta ,   TESTAMENT   singer   Chuck Billy   lamented the fact that his band has yet to do a proper tour with   METALLICA   even though the two groups have known each other for more than three decades.

"Whenever I'm asked, 'What is the one band you wish you can play with?', it's always   METALLICA ,"   Chuck   said (as transcribed by   BLABBERMOUTH.NET . "It's, like, we grew up with these guys [in] the same era, but we never went on tour [with them]. I think a few years ago, we did three shows in Germany [with them] on a festival. It was funny, 'cause our band walked in and their band was walking, and we all kind of met in this hallway. And [we were], like, 'Hey, what's going on?' It was a like old friends seeing each other. I think it was   James   [ Hetfield ] or   Lars   [ Ulrich ], they said, 'Oh my God. Look at you guys. You guys all still got your hair. You guys are big.' 'Cause   Steve   [ DiGiorgio ,   TESTAMENT   bassist] and   Gene   [ Hoglan ,   TESTAMENT   drummer] are all six-[foot]-two, six-[foot]-three. But it was great seeing 'em. And we're actually playing [at the]   Aftershock   [festival in Sacramento], if that happens, in October. They're kicking off four nights there, and we're kicking off the first night with them. So that'll be good."

Billy   went on to express his hope that   TESTAMENT   could still properly share the stage with   METALLICA . "It would be great," he said. "And who knows? Maybe one day. Even the [San Francisco] Bay Area shows, when they do those special shows,   EXODUS   played,   DEATH ANGEL   played — a lot of people got to play. I don't know. I do know, because   Eric   [ Peterson ,   TESTAMENT   guitarist] — I don't know if you know the story —   Eric   actually married   Kirk 's [ Hammett ,   METALLICA   guitarist] ex when they split up. So I don't know if that has something [to do with it] — [a] deep down underlying reason. That's the only thing [we can think of]. We're, like, 'What is it,   Eric ? What'd you do to us? Why did you date her? Now we can't play with   METALLICA .' [ Laughs ]"

Back in 2017,   Hetfield   was asked in an interview with   Elliott Fullam   of   Little Punk People   to name his favorite thrash bands that are not part of the so-called "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal ( METALLICA ,   SLAYER ,   MEGADETH   and   ANTHRAX ).   James   said: "Oh, my God! There's tons of them. Well,   EXODUS   for sure. We grew up with those guys in the [San Francisco] Bay Area. Oh, and we stole their guitar player; that too. [ Laughs ] But, yeah, I think they're great.   TESTAMENT … A lot of bands in the Bay Area, a lot of thrash stuff."

TESTAMENT 's   "The Bay Strikes Back Tour"   with   EXODUS   and   DEATH ANGEL   will kick off on October 6 at the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, California and make stops in Austin, New York, and Detroit before concluding on November 27 at The Fox in Oakland. Via Blabbermouth